Rural Vote Debate on Q&A: Substance or Just Platitudes?
It was billed as a chance for all the political parties to woo the rural vote, but question marks hang over just how effective this was.
After all, National’s agriculture spokesman Todd McClay, on the eve of the last general election, told farmers in Morrinsville that a National-led Government would let young farmers use their KiwiSaver as part of a deposit to buy a farm, or sharemilking herd or for a flock, to help them get on the ownership ladder.
He said people in towns could use KiwiSaver for their first home deposit, but in rural New Zealand, this wasn’t possible.
“This just seems wrong, and the next National Government will fix it,” McClay told farmers back then.
Now Federated Farmers wants the Government to deliver on that pre-election promise.
According to Feds, the announcement was incredibly popular, particularly among the next generation of farmers, but also with older farmers who are looking for succession pathways.
The federation points out that while National MP Suze Redmayne has since submitted a Members’ Bill that would address some of the issues young farmers face, it is but one of more than 70 bills in the Members’ Ballot – effectively a raffle – and her bill may never be drawn.
Federated Farmers national board member Richard McIntyre claims that having a Members’ Bill in the biscuit tin doesn’t even come close to delivering on their campaign promise.
He wants McClay and all rural MPs to really get in behind farmers and push hard on this issue.
With the National Fieldays around the corner, it may be a good venue for the Prime Minister, and McClay to finally deliver on their party’s election promise.
